October 15, 2013

“I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary contentedly fallen and godless condition, absorbed in a merry meeting with my friends for the morrow or a bit of work that tickles my vanity today, a holiday or a new book, when suddenly a stab of abdominal pain that threatens serious disease, or a headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down. At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys. Then, slowly and reluctantly, bit by bit, I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world, and my only real treasure is Christ. And perhaps, by God's grace, I succeed, and for a day or two become a creature consciously dependent on God and drawing its strength from the right sources.”

|| John Piper

March 10, 2013

A week ago I was in Yosemite National Park for the first time. I was awed then and I'm still awed now by the beauty and majesty and glory the created declared of its Creator, as far as my eyes could see.

"For [God's] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made..." || Romans 1:20

And on my mind the whole time I was there was this verse:

"For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast
love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be
removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you." || Isaiah 54:10

February 14, 2013

And sure, we may all want anywhere other than suffering and ashes.
But this is a dust-crushed world and Christ didn’t avoid it but chose to
come to it... Why embrace dust and ashes? Because it’s out of dust and ashes, God grows the impossible.

Because God exchanges dust and ashes for beauty and miracles and He cares so much that He doesn’t care that it’s not fair.

Because God raises whole people out of ashes and He writes
mysterious grace in dust, and with Him, dust and spit and muddied things
can still help us see.

Because though you are dust and will return to dust, though
everything you know may be burnt to ashes, memory scattered to the wind —
there is a God who can re-collect you, remake you, resurrect you and
revive you with eternity.

January 27, 2013

I wanna open up my eyes
And see a more beautiful world
Let the hand of God Almighty
Sweep his colors through my life
I wanna hold tight to the laughter
And ride it like a child
On the winds that billow joyful
Through the sky
I wanna open up my heart
But you know, sometimes it's hard to find
Because I've buried it beneath the selfishness
That I've hidden behind
I wanna stand my ground unshaken
But I wanna tremble when I kneel
And let my song remain unbroken
Through the tears
So let me sing for the love
Let me love for the lost
Let me lose all I have
For what I found on the cross
Let me trust you with my life
Let me live to give you praise
Lord, let me praise you
For the grace by which I'm saved
Lord, let me sing
I wanna open up Your word
And let the thirsty enter in
So they can drink deep of the water
You have given to them
I want to run the race with vigor
I want to fight the fight with strength
And let my song rise from a whisper
To a scream
I wanna open up my arms
And embrace that old rugged cross
I wanna take pride in the reason
And be humbled by the cause
And when this lisping, stamm'ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing your praise
I'll sing your praise
So let me sing for the love
Let me love for the lost
Let me lose all I have
For what I found on the cross
Let me trust you with my life
Let me live to give you praise
Lord, let me praise you
For the grace by which I'm saved
Lord, let me sing

May 22, 2012

My grandma went to be with Jesus last month, on April 17th, 2012. I haven't written about her, or blogged about anything else for that matter, because...well, because I haven't been so inclined. I've been more inclined to hermit. But when I think about grandma and miss her, I find I've been thinking more about things I've been taught and believe, but have never really thought about before. Things like the fact that my grandma isn't dead...she is alive. Her body was left behind, set aside like a coat taken off when you've come into a warm house from the cold, but SHE is alive and in the presence of Jesus. I can't see her or talk to her or sit and crochet with her anymore, but that doesn't mean that she isn't living and thinking and feeling and worshiping. And that brings tears, more than the fact that she is gone.

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die...'"

John 11:25-26

"I
see myself now at the end of my journey, my toilsome days are ended. I
am going now to see that head that was crowned with thorns, and that
face that was spit upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearsay and
faith but now I go where I shall live by sight, and shall be with him in
whose company I delight myself.” -- Pilgrim in Pilgrim’s Progress

February 28, 2012

"Well, here I am again...up in the air. :-) This time on my way to Melbourne, AU. :-) As I write this I'm almost there. Long hours of traveling, but it's gone by quickly. Still almost can't believe I'm about to spend the next month in Australia. Life with God IS an adventure. :-) I've been a bit apprehensive these last few weeks thinking about this trip and all it will entail. But I realized the other day I've had my focus squarely on myself. I've needed to get it off myself, my fears and abilities, and onto my God, whose love toward me is GREAT and whose faithfulness isn't going to fail or end.

//

At the Lau's house, with Laurie and Janny, IN AUSTRALIA. Really not at all sure why God's brought me here. Needing my heart to be quiet and ready to learn of Him. God, fill me up with You, with your love. Let that be what spills over."